Originally we went by the name Rivera Bible collection (RBC) for our website and our ministry, but at the start of our second year, we rebranded ourselves as Cultivating Faith. The question still remains: what is RBC? The RBC is still a physical collection of Bibles and other materials, but it is also the members of the Rivera extended family who wish to live out the Bible in their daily lives…to be the Bible others read. In some cases the only Bible they will read. The RBC, now Cultivating Faith, is an extension of the physical collection as a ministry to teach biblical truths and help people understand the Bible; what it is, how we got it and how translations into English have been done. We want to teach biblical theology for it is so lacking in many Christians today.
Our Story
Well, let me step back. The physical collection started in 1976 when for my birthday my parents gave me my first “grown-up” Bible, a black leather KJV Scofield Reference Bible. This was really more of a study Bible. My sister also gave me a Living Bible for my birthday, which was so different than how the KJV read. Along with a plain text KJV Bible, this was the beginning of the “collection”. As I added a Good News Bible and a New International Version, I also would pick up different study Bibles to help me go deeper into the Word. I didn’t realize what God was in the process of building for I had no plan or idea of gathering a collection of Bibles. I just liked Bibles and books about the Bible like ancient near east histories, and atlases.
The collection really took off just a few years ago when I started to study translations, the translation process, methods, and philosophies. I would go on hunting expeditions for Bibles at used bookstores, book fairs, and antique shops from St. Louis to Kansas City with the family. We had a lot of success finding translations I did not have and, in some cases, I hadn’t even heard of before. Then I found eBay! I could, and would, spend hours looking for Bibles there. To my surprise, as a result, by end of 2020, I had over 220 items in the collection. The collection included 156 Bibles; 136 were unique English translations representing 77 translation families.
Around the start of 2019, I decided I needed a name for the collection. My thought was to create something that could be passed on to the next generations. We are blessed that all our kids and their spouses are Christians actively growing their faith. Thus, I suddenly got to the point of being the old guy in a clan; that got me thinking about my grandson and future grandchildren and the generations after that. What will be my legacy? (Seems to be a common thought when we get older.) How do I help my kids to pass on our faith in Jesus Christ to their kids and their kids’ kids?
Thus, the Rivera Bible Collection was born. My thought was this name would emphasize the main points of the collection, Bibles, and the connection to our family. The family was very supportive of the plan. Jason, my youngest son, became the co-curator of the collection. He would be the family member to inherit the collection with one of his main jobs being to find the next curator one day to inherit the RBC from him and then that person passes it on to the next.
This seed of an idea quickly grew beyond just a physical collection. I started to see this could be a means to help the whole family grow in our faith and even be of benefit to those outside the family. The RBC is more than shelves of books. In truth, we are the RBC. For we may be the only Bible someone will ever read. How clearly would someone read it from our lives?
The next development, at the urging of my loving daughter, Jennifer, was to do a blog. At first, I was not thrilled with this idea. It seems like I would really be putting myself out there. I’m not a writer. I’ve never done anything like this before. Yet after much prayer, I felt this is what God is calling me to do. I don’t know where it will go. I don’t know if anyone will like it or even read it. I know “anything worth doing well is worth doing poorly at first”. So, my writing skill will develop with practice and God will grow me in ways I can’t imagine.
Our Mission
I don’t know where this blog will go, but right out the door, this went from an “I” thing to a “we” thing. To start, we have formed a team of my adult children plus myself. Along with the aforementioned son and daughter, my son Jared is also a part of the team. He earned his Master of Divinity from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and is a lead pastor of a Southern Baptist Church in Mid-MO. He adds a wonderful perspective to the group. My daughter is our webmaster and designed our beautiful logo. My wife, Diann, has agreed to be a proofreader. Wow, do I need that!
We have spent a great deal of time talking, meeting, and planning, so we could get off on a strong footing. We developed a Mission Statement. We also have an explanation of the elements of our logo. Our concentration will be on the Bible. Writing articles reviewing Bible translations, posts on the methods, and philosophies of translation, along with various biblical-theological topics. Others will add posts of biblical truths as they are led.
We come from a Baptist theological bent but will try our best to not be anti any other biblical perspective. Satan and the world attack Christians enough; we don’t need to attack each other. The caveat is that the perspective has to be biblical. We will stand against any heretical “translations” and teachings.
The RBC is more than a collection, and as it’s grown into Cultivating Faith even more than a website. It is a ministry. Yet more than just a ministry to our family but by God’s grace, it will be a ministry to the body of Christ. Our Mission Statement says: We exist to glorify God by reintroducing and educating people on biblical truth and translation, sharing our family’s passion for the Word of God.
Our Goal
We don’t want to limit the direction God takes us. We will be guided by our Mission Statement and our Core Beliefs, always seeking to let God speak. We will try to remain willing to move and obey as the Holy Spirit moves us. The bottom line: our goal is to glorify God and to be used by Him in advancing His Kingdom. One life changed, one life touched will thrill us beyond words and move us to reach that next person.
We’re not as concerned that people like what we say, but that what we say is biblical, it glorifies God and lifts up the name of Jesus. It is a matter of pleasing God, not being concerned about offending people or focused on pleasing others. Even if they don’t agree with our conclusions, if we can get others to think and evaluate what they believe, that would be wonderful. That would hit our goal and our mission!
The Update
As we approached the start of our second year in June of 2022, we decided to do some updates. First was to our URL and the name of our website. RiveraBibleCollection.org is a mouth full. It is not easy to explain to people and promote it. As to a bit of discussion, we change the name to CultivatingFaith.org. It keeps the mission of helping people to grow their biblical faith but, we think, is much easier to direct people to our site.
Our mission is still the same: “We exist to glorify God by reintroducing and educating people on biblical truth and translation, sharing our family’s passion for the word of God.” We are hoping to cultivate, nurture, and grow the faith of those who come to our site by having insightful, thought-provoking posts on subjects related to the Bible, Bible translation, and biblical theology. We believe that Cultivating Faith expresses who we are and what our mission is in a clearer and more memorable way. We are seeking not to just continue what began as the RBC but, under Cultivating Faith, to increase the quantity and quality of material we make available to our visitors.
Thanks for coming to our site and reading what God has placed on our hearts. Our prayer is you will be blessed by what you find here. We covet your prayers for our endeavor. Please pray we will glorify God, honor His Son, be led by the Spirit, and be used to edify the body of Christ and reach others for Christ. This is a lot but God can do it! Please help us by sharing our posts or sending us a quick email so we can learn how we are doing and what is impacting you.
God Bless!
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